Conversion of a Wine Storage

In Basel, Esch Sintzel Architekten have transformed a former wine storage building into a residential complex, carefully balancing its monumental industrial character with the intimacy of domestic life. The most defining elements of the structure—the mighty mushroom columns—are retained as the central protagonists of the new design. Their robust forms are exposed and staged in different ways, allowing residents and visitors alike to experience their presence throughout the building.

Two internal streets run the length of the house, weaving between the columns like urban corridors. These passages act as both circulation spaces and social zones, giving the building a spatial rhythm reminiscent of a small city within the larger urban fabric. Access to stairwells, laundry rooms, and entrances branch off from these internal streets, while a diversity of apartment typologies unfolds around them, accommodating different generations and lifestyles.

On the mezzanine level, the inner street connects directly to the city outside through stairs and ramps, softening the threshold between public and private. Commercial spaces and a café occupy the prominent ends of the building, strengthening its urban address. At the top, the network of circulation culminates in a communal room and shared roof terrace, offering residents collective spaces that extend beyond the individual apartment.

Esch Sintzel’s intervention demonstrates how adaptive reuse can preserve the monumental qualities of industrial heritage while embedding new forms of collective living. The Weinlager project exemplifies a city within a house—an architecture that stages history while shaping contemporary urban life.